Victory Lap for Icahn? Activist Investor Sells 2 Million Shares of His Fund

The activist investor appeared to taking advantage of that Monday night when he announced a sale of roughly 2 million shares of his fund Icahn Enterprises via a regulatory filing. In doing so, he generated a tidy profit of $289 million.

The sale spooked investors in Mr. Icahn’s fund, pushing the stock down roughly 9% Tuesday. But they can’t be all that dismayed. Shares of Icahn Enterprises are up more than 200% in 2013.

Mr. Icahn has scored big profits this year with his successful bets on Netflix, CVR Energy and Apple among others. Holdings in Icahn Enterprises’ investment funds have increased 50% through the first three quarters of 2013, according to a filing.

“Carl Icahn, long seen as the archenemy of chief executives, is finding the path to the boardroom easier to tread. Mr. Icahn, among the most relentless of activists, secured representatives on more boards this year than he ever has, without resorting to shareholder-vote battles.”

The most seats ever? Icahn Enterprises has scored seats on seven different corporate boards this year.

Even when Mr. Icahn loses a fight he wins. As Mr. Benoit notes, Mr. Icahn couldn’t stop Dell’s founder Michael Dell from taking his company private. Still along the way Mr. Icahn bumped up the share price securing more returns for his firm.